LACLEDE HIRES ADAMSON FOR $700,000 AD CAMPAIGN

Laclede Gas Co. is rolling out its first formal new advertising campaign in at least a dozen years.

The company hired St. Louis marketing and advertising firm Adamson earlier this month to develop what’s budgeted to be a $700,000 to $800,000 annual effort, said Justin Gioia, director of corporate communications for Laclede Group, parent company of Laclede Gas. Gioia, who joined Laclede in March from Monsanto, directed the agency search effort for the natural gas utility.

The campaign will unfold over the next four months and include traditional radio, TV and print advertising as well as social media and other online efforts.

Kim Boyer, Adamson's president, said the campaign will focus primarily on Laclede's residential customers; Adamson is in the early stages of developing the campaign, she said.

Laclede already launched one piece of its new marketing earlier this month — an informational Web site, originalgreenenergy.com. Gioia said the campaign will be designed to tell Laclede Gas' story on how natural gas fits in with energy efficiency. The Web site offers direct comparisons between households that use gas appliances and those that use electric appliances.

Source: St. Louis Biz Journal